A new product makes almost anything waterproof.

-Photography by Christopher Myers

Get Baltimore Daily.

What if spilling Diet Coke on your cell phone didn’t matter anymore?
Solving that problem, and many others, is the goal of new product
NeverWet, developed in Lancaster, PA, in part by Baltimore native and
Stevenson University grad Mat Sterner.

“Scientists have been studying
this conundrum for decades,” says Sterner, pictured, a research
and development chemist. “When you put water on various materials, it
either makes flat puddles or beads on the surface, like Teflon.”

But
Sterner says that scientists have been trying to figure out how to give
surfaces a texture, or small towers, that water droplets can sit on top
of. The problem with such a delicate texture is how easily it can get
damaged with a simple touch. But NeverWet’s technology has two layers to
protect that texture. The result is a seemingly futuristic spray that
makes virtually anything—electronics, clothing, tires, house
siding—waterproof.

NeverWet is available at Home Depot, Walmart, and
Lowe’s, and is retailing for $19.99. “Generally, the reactions have been
describing it as magic, sorcery, a miracle,” Sterner says. “People
aren’t used to seeing liquid just slide right off.”